"All the guys like her? Great...you forgot to say 'away' which makes it sound a little..."

So I'm going to say something out there and controversial. I think marriage, like many other conventional traditions that we follow we blindly, is outdated. I don't think it has properly evolved within the confines of our societal structure and families would be better suited with a strong foundation of adults (I'm talking polygamy). I will elaborate more at a later date.

Also - if you haven't noticed, I found a way to add music to our little game here, so we can listen to music that we're talking about. Here are some quick directions - create an account at Project Playlist. Search add music to a playlist and then get the HTML code and post it here.

"I'm looking for something....subtle" "It's going to be real...colorful"

Good morning! I know in my last post I said tomorrow, but...well, I distracted myself and then the day was gone. My apologies. Also, I apologize in advance as this post isn't going to be nearly as long or analytical as usual. I'm actually going to set it up and let you guys take it away and then bounce back to it when I'm a bit more awake.

Pop Culture Versus Culture - what is it that comprises a societies cultural identity? I think I could objectively define it as books, music, movies, television, video games, print media (newspapers, magazines), art (painting, sculptures, 'modern'), celebrities and sports - not only in what is produced in this society, but also what is popular. Given the recent Olympic games (which I think deserve a post of their own if someone wants to throw out their perceptions from the recent games in Beijing), I think I'd like to focus on sports for at least the first part of this post. Sports, as a whole, I think are underrated, or at least looked down upon by other "cultural elitists" as a simple clashing of two physical entities in frivolous games. First and foremost, let me get this out there - every aspect of culture is frivolous on every measurable scale. That being said, I think culture not only makes up an important aspect of every society, I'd go as far as to say that it is a required element if any society is to thrive. Culture brings entertainment to the masses, keeps morale high and everyone knows, happy workers work while unhappy workers don't...or at least don't do as good of a job. All work and no play make America a dull nation. So back to sports - sports offer society an outlet for our competitive nature. We have an inherent need to feel as if we are the best, but of course, most of us...aren't the best. Therefore, we personalize ourselves with a team or an athlete and through their achievements and success, we achieve and succeed - we feel like we a part of it. And sports and much more complicated beast than people give it credit for. Sports are constantly evolving, always attempting to find that edge over the competition, and just as one trend becomes universal (see NFL spread offenses over the next two season), something new comes along. While every other cultural medium I listed flows seamlessly with trends or fads, sports are the constant sine wave that follows our society, changing much more slowly, like our economy or our political environment. I speak specifically of football, as that's the sport I follow most closely, but I know we could find fans of every sport that regardless of the age of the sport, or the traditions we typically associate, have evolved and adapted for a greater competitive edge.

Music, I think, is the second most important aspect of a society's cultural identity and this is because music is the most diverse of the cultural aspects, which is even more impressive given the relatively similar roots all music has derived from. Somehow, between classical music and traditional, tribal drum-based music, we have achieved an amazingly eclectic tree of musical genres and sounds. In addition, music proudly utilizes the most recent technological advances to bring something new to the table...always going for the latest or the newest sound. Music also is in the unique position of having changed society, or having a major impact on large scale societal changes. Music often represents the sound of the streets, or the sound of the masses, but really - there is a music for everyone, music is universal in that it doesn't discriminate. However, this is where my topic really hits it's stride - pop culture versus culture. Is there any difference, value wise, in some indie production with strong, meaningful lyrics aimed at political or economical issues or some pop song constructed for the soul purpose of selling records? How would one even measure the worth of a cultural entity? Number of people reached? Lasting impression (test of time)? Message? I think completely excusing "pop culture" - the items produced and marketed for the sole purpose of sales over content, is a mistake. I think this is as vital a part of our cultural imprint as anything done in order to invoke change or express strong opinion.

Then there's the cross pollination of culture - the instant celebrity of Olympic heroes like Michael Phelps, Shawn Johnson and Usain Bolt. Then there's the flip-side, like Ashley Harkleroad posing for playboy - positive or negative? This actually leads into my next area of discussion - celebrities and a little insight into their train-wrecks they call lives, but that's for next time I reckon.

So that's my diving board - take it from there people. I'll probably have more at some point in time, possibly even in the next week, but no promises.

Also - Heather and I came up with an awesome idea for an ongoing game or conversation starter that we can kind of finish (or start) each post with. Current song of the moment (what song do you find yourself listening to more and more these days) and this song makes me feel...(list an emotion or feeling, and what song really captures that for you)...then simply elaborate. I'll go first.

Song of the Moment: Belle & Sebastian - Mary Jo. Off their original record, Tigermilk, this little diddy closes the album with perfect ease. It's simple tune and could easily fade into any background comfortable, but where is exceeds - as with all B&S songs, are the melodies and the subtly strong lyrics. The key lines are "Mary Jo, no one can see / What you've been through / Now you've got love to burn"and then ends with a fading round of "Life is never dull in your dreams / A sorry tale of action and the men you left for / Women, and the men you left for / Intrigue, and the men you left for dead." The song is essentially about the regrettable lose of youth and innocence, which I think all of us go through in that moment when we realize...we aren't kids anymore, we are guilty beings (and I didn't even need Catholicism to tell me that one), and we've made mistakes. Our own mortality becomes apparent in that moment - we make mistakes, and through mistakes, it becomes evident that we will someday die (maybe I'm the only one who makes that connection, but either way - it's there).

Song That Makes Me Feel...Nostalgic: The Elected - Greetings in Braille. One of my top songs (actually has been in the top five since I first heard it), this captures perfectly that idea that we aren't who we were when we were kids anymore, yet simultaneously, we aren't really ready to handle what the world has to throw at us yet either. Key line - "And I miss Tara and Melissa, Allen and John. / And you'll never have friends like you did when you were young. / But our bodies were pulled away and swept out to the sea / And I'd call and say hi if I thought you'd remember me." It'll be interesting to see how the Internet effects childhood friendships as we all grow older, already we're seeing a difference as I've kept up with more people through the Internet (all of you, for example), than I would have ever imagined and definitely wouldn't have had this option not been here. However, even as the Internet is changing the way we view and react to friendships, the sentiment is the same - the friendships when we were young were unbeatable, and even if we stay in touch or we keep contact with those individuals - those bonds of friendship we shared when we were young, they will never be matched, they will never be replicated and it's very easy to miss those, to regret wasting those days away - but it was wasting those days that made them so memorable. Perhaps that's a missing lesson in all of this - the most memorable days are those we wasted.

That's all I have. I recently got the Sims 2 IKEA Stuff and the Sims 2 Apartment Life, so I'm going to fiddle around with that for an unhealthy amount of time. Ta.

Hole in the Wall

Good evening everybody - who's ready for today's post?

First and foremost, welcome to my pal Gary - the first international user here, hopefully not the last.

Next, in my pondering of what might stir up a good post AND instill a little sense of community here within the group, I came up with an excellent idea for a post, with a little help from a friend. Basically - a little personal survey because come on - who doesn't like talking about themselves? So anyways, I've swiped these 10 topics to discuss about yourself, it will give the rest of us a good idea of where you're coming from (more or less) and get us all a bit more open with each other...in theory, once again. Also, please elaborate - open ended answers drive conversations.

Personal Survey

1. First Name: Nathan. I'm not particularly sure how I feel about the name Nathan, or to be more specific - Nathaniel. The entire concept of being named by your parents is somewhat self - defeating in my mind. A name should be reflective of one's self and while I may or may not be a Nathan, in terms of generalizing a name, sometimes I don't feel like one. That being said, I anticipate naming my own children - Tori and I already have names picked out, whether we actually go with them or not, I don't know. We're assuming 2 boys (August Always, Sebastian Royce) and 2 girls (Anna Marie Kimberly (I'll call her Kayla Lynn because I'm like that), Kahlan Veda), but we'll see.
   
   
2. Age: 22, although I'm less than a month away from 23. I'm not really sure how I feel about age either - it's a tricky subject. I still have to pause and think about it when someone asks me how old I am because, frankly, I don't feel like I'm 22. I work with people much older than me, my employees are older than my mom, and I'm the youngest of my group of friends... At times, I feel older than my age - maybe it's the stresses of work, I never felt that way at Taco Bell...maybe it's just getting older and I'm multiplying the effect in my mind. At other times, however, I feel younger than my age - this is probably because I have no bearing on where I'm supposed to be at this stage...some of my friends are done with college and have moved on to good jobs, others have messed around and are still working near minimum wage jobs and then I'm there in the middle - I'm working management, going to school, where do I go from here? Where do I fit in? It's very contradicting and confusing.
   
   
3. Location: Kalamazoo, MI. The real question here should be - how long will I be here? As soon as I'm done with school, I'm hoping to find myself a job elsewhere so I can move. I've got nothing against Kalamazoo, at least something compared to how I felt when I left for college, but overall - I think the town doesn't offer me as much as other towns could. As I mentioned in various other posts, I'm looking for a suburb of a major city, I think, but where I truly land - I have no idea at this point.

4. Occupation/Education: Well, first and foremost, I work as a housekeeping manager up in Allegan, which is a good 45 minute drive to the northwest of Kalamazoo. I also go to school, ITT Tech in the programming department, in Grand Rapids, which is a good hour drive north of Kalamazoo (an hour northeast of Allegan as well). All in all, because of these two factors, I'm dropping a quarter of my paycheck ($200-250) on gas every other week. Right now work is pretty hectic and even before everything else that's going on, I was questioning my satisfaction in the work. I've never been truly unhappy doing the job (I was miserable at Taco Bell, which was my previous employer), but I'm rarely satisfied with my work either. I find myself struggling often because, quite frankly, I'm not a clean guy...I'm not a total slob, but when asked to spot little detail things that I'm expected to and required to notice. I'm currently looking, albeit somewhat passively, for something different. I'm even willing to take a slight pay cut if it's in Kalamazoo, to offset all the driving. I have a potential interview at my dad's work, but it's still thirty minutes away and it's more of a pay cut than I might be willing to take given the drive still exists. As for school - I'm about a year away from an associates and I love programming, I honestly can't wait until I'm done. On the other hand, this associates I'm getting isn't going to get me very far and the local ITT doesn't offer the bachelor program from programming, which means either I get lucky and end up with a new job in a town with an ITT that has the bachelor program, or I have to find a new school to finish off that degree so I can really make a splash in the business world when I'm done. Therefore, both of these places are in complete limbo and that's just about the short end of it.
   
   
5. Partner: I'm married! I know, crazy, right? Well, I'm married to a wonderful woman, Tori (Victoria) who loves me despite all my problems. We met at BD's Mongolian BBQ, which is an excellent restaurant here in town (it's a chain, I was familiar with them prior to them opening here). My roommates at the time and I would go two or three (or more) times a week and eventually, I got to know most of the waitresses pretty well, and overtime we met and talked and then we hung out one day and since then, we've only been apart a total of 5 nights...literally, we spent that first night together and most night since then. We've been married for over two years now and it's not always easy, but we make it through somehow. The funny part about our marriage is that 1) we eloped on our third month anniversary and 2) on our one month anniversary, she totaled my car and THAT was when I knew I'd marry her. So we're not traditional, but we're happy and that's all that matters, isn't it?
   
   
6. Kids: As I already mentioned, we plan on having four kids (right now), although we admit that the number may change as we discover the harsh reality and troubles of actually raising children. We both love children, although we both have clear flaws when it comes to children (patience, ability to be serious) that we know we will have to greatly improve before the big day arrives. Currently we are off birth control, in case you were wondering, and taking a "if it happens, it happens" approach - we're not putting any pressure on ourselves to pop one out this year or anything, but we think we're ready enough now that we're willing to give it a shot.
   
   
7. Pets: We have two wild and crazy dogs - Henri (Henrik) and Cuppie (Cummupins - pronounced like Comeuppance). The former is a Beagle/Bassett Hound (we think) and the latter is a Beagle/Jack Russell. Basically - they are the most fun on four feet and everyone loves them...even if Cuppie tends to get into people's faces all too often. We hope, when we move, to get a place with bit more land for them to run around in (with a fence because neither would hesitate to run away, unfortunately) and likely get a cat someday as well, although I think the adjustment for the two troublemakers to a cat would be a bit of a stretch, so we'll see. We'll have to be very careful as to how we approach that future. I also have fish ambitions, but no plans to implement those as of any time soon.
   
   
8. List the 3-5 biggest things going on in your life:
1. School: As I already mentioned, this is an ongoing process in my life. When I graduated high school, I got a full ride to RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology) which gave me the best 12 months (approximately four quarters) of my life, but unfortunately, I didn't get a whole lot of anywhere with my time there as far as education goes. I started out as a mechanical engineer, unfortunately - it turns out, that's not what I wanted to be, so I jumped over to accounting (after my father) and then ran to mathematics (my strength) prior to calling it quits - I had lost my scholarship because of grades, I was working part time at Taco Bell again to afford things and overall, I didn't see why spending 30k/year to figure out what I want to do with my life would be beneficial to anybody. So I dropped out, moved to Kalamazoo, and now I'm going to ITT for programming, which I could have taken at RIT but alas...didn't realize my own potential in that field at the time. Write it off as a youthful indiscretion and move on. I have more friends from my time at RIT than high school, and I really wish I had kept up with more of them more often...hopefully I can trick some of them into joining me here.
   
2. Work: So I started working at Taco Bell when I was 15, before my 19th birthday I was a manager and before my 20th birthday, an assistant store manager and just after that, I worked as an interim store manager for 2 months. Shortly after that, however, I quit. I quit Taco Bell because they hired someone to take the place of store manager and after six months in a three month training they still didn't know anything, so when put in charge - everything fell apart and who was called upon to fix it? It was very frustrating that I was not thought of as "mature" enough and didn't take my responsibility "seriously" enough for consideration for promotion. In retrospect, I can see their point, but I'm still a tad bitter in their decision to pass me over when I knew my stuff better than anyone else who had held the position before me and I'm guessing, since. After a month of unemployment, which was heartbreaking for me, I landed my present job which has been a roller coaster ride if nothing else. In my two years in the nursing home business, I've been in two buildings full time - I've had 5 administrators, 6 director of nurses and countless other admin positions cycling in and out like months in a year. In my 21 months at [my building], I've become the second most senior person in morning meetings (in terms of longevity in present position), which I guess says something about my abilities in my own position, but really - the place is in constant turnover and recent events guarntee another year, if not more, of the same. Very frustrating. Also, I hate dealing with employees - hiring, firing, etc...all a big headache I'd be better off avoiding, in my opinion. Oh well, not really an option, is it? A large part of me doesn't see myself as management material, but I guess a large majority of others do...so I'm kind of stuck at this point.
3. Health: Well, overall I'm a pretty healthy guy, I'd say - I could shed a few pounds, if I'm being honest with myself. Right now, however, my biggest concern is my left shoulder which I dislocated in January of '06. When I dislocated, the doctor's told me that my cartilage hadn't healed back correctly and I would someday require surgery in order to repair the damage. Well, unfortunately, I think this day may come sooner rather than later, as lately my arm has been popping out much easier and frequently than the two years prior, which is increasingly painful, not to mention the soreness and stiffness. I have an appointment on the 5th with my new doctor and I plan on getting the ball rolling on getting the surgery done so I can have my arm back to full ability.
4. Leisure: Right now, I spend most of my time playing Tribal Wars, although I'm hoping to get back into the Sims 2 (as soon as I get Apartment Life...come on birthday money) and maybe even Spore someday soon. Besides that, I'm all about music and (American) football. Seeing as autumn is rolling in nicely, it's almost time for the NFL season and I couldn't be more excited. My other love, music, is one obsession that I hope will never die, although it has taken a recent backseat because of monetary issues. I used to buy 2 or 3 CDs a week, at one point, but recently, I'll be lucky to get that in a three month span. I'm hoping someday to get back to my new music hounding ways.
5. Miscellaneous: See I put this on here as a kind of free section to talk about whatever, however - I've already typed so much and covered so many aspects of my life, I really don't have much to go on. Feel free to put something of your own here though.
   
   
9. Family: Well - my mom works in Washington, D.C. for the secretary of defense, which isn't nearly as exciting as it sounds. My dad works in Plainwell (thirty minutes north of Kalamazoo), but lives in Marshall (thirty minutes east of Kalamazoo), so he suffers the same as me when it comes to driving. I have two half-brothers (brothers from another mother, as I like to remind them). Doug, the eldest (October 1979) lives in California, is a divorced, but now engaged and is awesome because he works for Google (which is actually more exciting than it sounds) - I too wish to get in good with Google, if through him or through my own skills. My other brother, Jamie (January 1981) lives in Vicksburg (thirty minutes south of Kalamazoo). He is married with two kids - Jessie (4) and Cody (2). Cody is cool because he's built like an offensive lineman and laughs every time he falls down, even if he hits his head on the table or something. Jessie is a character - she once stabbed me in the eye with a fork while I was napping and I plan on bringing that up the rest of my life. Jamie works for Flowserve, which produces industrial seals and whatnot, it's actually the largest international company based in Kalamazoo with a net worth well over 1 mil, or something like that (I suppose 1 mil isn't that much in modern times, is it?). Pretty neat. As for my wife's family - I went from no sisters to four (Erica - the missing one (I've only met her twice), Lexi, Lauren and Morgan) and got to add a brother (Parker). Thus far, I have no qualms with them...I probably have more beefs with my various sides of family than them, so that's good I suppose.
   
   
10. Friends: Finally, #10 - I have only one true friend of note and that's Josh. I spend all the time I can with Josh and he is my undeniable heterosexual life partner. I have other friends, in theory and in mutual respect, but in terms of spending an abundant amount of time with a person and sharing otherwise private information - Josh is only beat out by my wife and no one else comes close.

So that's it - feel free to copy down the questions and write out your own responses. Sorry for my short story worth of self promotion, but I had a good time. Maybe that's what I'm in this for - getting to see myself type up massive amounts of nothing, just for the satisfaction of forcing others to read my run-on sentences. Seriously though, something about seeing my little fingers jump across the keyboard and see my thoughts displayed so uniformly on a computer screen...something about that, I don't know...it amazes me. That's it for tonight - tomorrow, culture versus pop culture, night. I mean - ta.

Introduction

Evening all.

I’d like to introduce myself as a kind of ‘trailer’ to the future posts I hope to write for this community.

My name is Gary (Aka Razor Goz) & I am from Cornwall in the UK. I was invited by Nathan Hart, after becoming friends on the game Tribal Wars. (I was a member of RIP.)

I am not all that fantastic at philosophy (I scraped an E at A-level) but hope to learn, meet people (because that’s what the internet was made for (I would hope)) and maybe contribute my opinions and thoughts along the way.

Thanks for reading,

Gary

"It's never a good sign when your quarterback is bleeding profusely from the nostrils"

The Blog - I think we have all dropped the ball here on our initial idea. This is partly due to real life circumstances, partly to lack of motivation or coherent ideas, and partly due to laziness (on my part, at least). However – times are changing and it’s time to get back into this. As I already mentioned, I’m marketing and recruiting – don’t know how much success I’m having or am going to have, but I’m trying – and that’s worth something. I think thus far, the biggest problem here has been participation – and unfortunately, the way I see it, the more participation we have, the more participation that will encourage – kind of a vicious circle that once we get going, things will really get going.

That being said – and welcome to all new authors/readers – what would all of you like to see from this community? Obviously, my intentions have been made clear, but what would make this blog, and participating therein, more attractive to everybody else? I know I would participate more given more feedback from all of you, seeing as I can talk to myself anywhere; this is more for letting out opinions and getting feedback. So how can we change the format or the layout that would make things better for posting, better for reading, better for all around participation? Also – it is advisable to give everyone admin privileges in order to encourage more use? One might think that if we all have our friends here, in an open community, would provide the best results, however – we are tied to 100 authors (which we are far from at the moment, especially if we remove those who don’t participate), so some resourcefulness with those spots will be required.

The Hulk – well, I’ll be honest…I haven’t seen it. I haven’t seen many movies this summer…lack of funds, lack of time and lack of anything I actually want to see have gone into contributing to that sad fact. I do have to agree with you on Edward Norton – he easily fits into my top three actor’s list. As for Liv Tyler, I got nothing against her, but she does tend to fade into the background of most of her films – that could just be me, or the fact that she’s usually involved in all star casts, making her less noticeable, or the fact that she just has no screen presence and very little charisma. She’s never made an impression on me, regardless of the reason.

Summer Movies – while we are on the topic, let’s resurrect my summer movie preview and see how we’re doing thus far…(Summer Movie Preview 2008)

Super Heroes – also, while we’re here, let’s talk about these comic book heroes (and villains) who are more and more often, populating our movie screens. What are the thoughts on this new trend? What are the thoughts on these characters as…well, characters? Can we get some literary insight into that’s going on here – the struggles, the triumphs, etc…?

Atlas Shrugged – Yes, this is our classic fall back topic. I think all of our old conversation were either entirely devoted to this, or analyzing metaphors in Bright Eyes songs (a tradition I wouldn’t mind restarting, although I think expanding our artist base would benefit us greatly). First and foremost, have you read the Wikipedia page on the novel lately (Atlas Shrugged)? It’s quite a resource – I’ll have to read it more thoroughly later (I just took a peak at it to get the latest on the movie).

As for the movies, I have heard this as well – from my understanding right now, they are making it a two-part film, to negotiate with the length and many, many plot points. I know Angelina Jolie is currently slated to play Dagny Taggart…I have some reservations based on that decision, but I can see it working, so I’ll let it slide. As for the concept of turning books into movies, a) I don’t think there will ever be any satisfaction because one of the beauties of a book over a movie is everyone sees something different, the picture in my mind of what the Ents (in Lord of the Rings) would be like is much different than that which was featured in the film. It is for these reasons that I think it’s important to rationalize prior to seeing a film based on a book that the two are separate entities based on similar storylines. With the proper direction, screenplay and not too many hands in the pot, it can produce a damn fine film (see Prince Caspian), but otherwise, it can become a disaster (see The Golden Compass…wait, don’t). Either way, I’m with you – I’ll see the film regardless. I figure – more exposure (being the highest selling novel, other than the Bible, just isn’t cutting it apparently) will be good, I guess. Like Heather, however, I do encourage everyone who hasn’t read it to read it.

Gas Prices – yes, the inevitable hot button topic of the summer…gas prices. As prices (here in the States) hover around $4/gallon, and the rest of the world being much worse off than us, it’s an easy hot topic…especially in an election year. Oh the discussions. Personally, I don’t think there’s a whole lot to discuss here – sure we could delve into the politics of it – drill in Alaska or focus on renewable resources? How can we moderate our oil consumption without giving up the convenience of our daily lives? As for how much we were deluded…I wasn’t at all, but I agree – as a society, I think we were kind of turning the other way, hoping the problem would just go away (also, see National Debt).

Iowa – Let’s talk about the Midwest for something other than the storms…although word to cool storms. From what I hear from my brother, and a few others in the industry, the next computer explosion is going to be in states like Iowa because the cost of the living is much lower and computer geeks can work anywhere. I think this is excellent news, at least for me, seeing as that’s the industry I hope someday to crack into. I love the Midwest, and while I’d like to end up near a big city (Chicago, Cleveland and Minneapolis all come to mind), I wouldn’t mind ending up in a state like Iowa, Nebraska, or even someplace as detached as Montana.

Writing – I’m right there with you when it comes to writing. The power of words, more often than not, just astonishes me and I think (and I think I’ve mentioned this before) that words and language as a whole is the greatest accomplishment of the human race. Without language, society as we know it would be non-existent without the foundation of language. As for my own personal reading/writing habits – I’m afraid I’ve allowed myself to become too lazy, preferring the instant gratification of the Internet for information over the joy of discovering. Do I want to read more? Sure – will I? Probably not…I have an ever expanding list of books to read, but until I am able to set aside thirty minutes to an hour a day to just reading, it won’t happen. As for writing, I’ve gotten back into my poetry – although I’ve only put one foot in for now. I’m still conceptualizing stories on a daily basis, what comes of all these ideas however, who knows? And as for these (and other) blogs…well, as I’ve already mentioned in this post – I’m motivated to get this started once again. We’ll see how long that lasts.

Past Entries – Don’t worry about past entries, topics, or anything if you don’t want to – however, if you (or any of our new members) are bored one day and decide to rehash some golden topics (and there are definitely some gems that got overlooked) – feel free to do so. I am always up for discussing something already discussed and given the time element, there’s a good chance my opinion has changed…so you’d be getting a new discussion participant as well!

NPR – I too have occasionally found the pleasures of listening to NPR during my over abundant time spent in cars, driving nowhere. Sounds Eclectic, in particular, hits the spot in this time when I can’t afford as many new CDs as I’d prefer (at one point in time in the somewhat recent past, I was getting 3 new CDs a week, now I’m lucky to get that in a three-month span). My latest obsession has been podcasts, I can download something to my laptop and then listen to it during my long drives and because it’s controllable, I can pause it and not miss a beat, or refer back to something later. I will likely, now that I’ve discovered them, subscribe to more podcasts than I can listen to in a day, and then get rid of them all, but for the time being – my car rides are filled with talk radio and I don’t think I ever thought I’d say that.

Music – finally, a topic of my own…recently I read somewhere that people often stop following new music around the age of 23 and just rely on old favorites for any “new music” fix they may have. This frightens me, not because I’m quickly catching 23, but because I can feel this happening and I like to argue that it’s due to external conflicts, not internal desires (I have no money, it’s not that I don’t want new music), but how honest am I being with myself there? I have a mile long list of CDs I want, and that list grows more and more every day, but most of the CDs I’m adding to the list are…from that old group of favorites I know I like. When I can afford a new CD, I get one I know I’ll like, I’m not willing to take a chance at a crap CD from a new band because I get so few new ones – I have to make the most of what I get.

Lego – the Lego mini-man (you know, the little yellow guy), is turning 30 this year. Discuss Lego’s, their effect on society and their outlook as we head into a more and more digital age.

That’s all for today people, more later as I have lot’s of ambitious posts sitting in the wings, but no promises (as you see – post Friday night became post Wednesday afternoon).

Ta.

Marketing and other new beginnings

My pessimism extends to the point of even suspecting the sincerity of the pessimists.
- Jean Rostand

That is, by far, one of my favorite quotes of recent times. Anyways, so I have recently discovered a new source of people...not just people, but many intelligent people from a wide variety of backgrounds and cultures, not to mention ages and nationalities. Thus, I am going to start a heavy "marketing campaign" to get people to come join us, so we aren't talking to ourselves for months at a time. Will I succeed? Probably not, but I'm optimistic in this new group of people I have found.

That being said, hopefully sometime tonight (or tomorrow, or Sunday...let's be honest here), I am going to rewrite my mission statement of creating this blog and post it right there at the top so everyone can read it when they first find us. I'm motivated once again to give this thing a go because I'm starting to miss intelligent conversation and this place, in theory, is the best place for it.

More later - Nathan